If you had to ask me what I do on a daily basis to survive through the day, you would be greeted with the daily necessities of life. Some minor details that come to mind are eating, drinking, breathing, but there is something that is always forgotten. There is one aspect that needs to be filled in life each day; listening. Not to the boring commercials that infest the mind like parasites with annoying jingles and infomercials. This type of listening deals with beautiful, serenading sounds that pierce the mind with different swirling emotions. These vivid sounds formed together with different instruments and voices are defined as music.

As Jean Cocteau, a French renaissance man of literature and art, used to say. “All good music resembles something. Good music stirs by its mysterious resemblance to the objects and feelings which motivated it.” Music is essential to everyday life because of how it soothes the soul and takes me back to a time that I remember most. Whether these moments but good or bad, these melodies allow me to escape the burdens of life for a split-second, where no stress and no chaos are ever present.

Songs and lyrics play a lot of different roles in my life that take me back to a time that I once knew from my past and events that were passed down by my parents to me. There is one specific moment that I can remember that goes with a specific sound. The soft but powerful piano starts this beautiful tune followed by the enveloping and slow guitar by a man called George Harrison. The lyrics, “When I find myself in times of trouble, Mother Mary comes to me, speaking words of wisdom, let it be” come to mind as I picture myself in my mother, Mary’s arms as she sways on the front porch. I, only being a baby at the time, recall the loving squeeze that my mother put around me as I nestled into her arms as Let It Be by the Beatles was playing on a summer afternoon. This song takes me back to a time where everything in the world was not complicated. I felt nothing except the mitigating sounds of Paul McCartney and the calm humming of my mom.

But, I am not just a teenager that enjoys classical rock. I am a person that appreciates all types of music from Irish Bagpipes to the powerful beats of dubstep. These songs define and bridge together moments to my life. When I hear a song, I connect that to what I would be doing at any time of my life. One occasion that sticks with me every time, was when I took the plunge off of Canyon Falls in Sidnaw, Michigan. This dive is from a height of 50 feet into the icy depths of swirling water. This reminds me of a time of great adventure in trekking the 3 miles to get to the falls. These exciting times can be described with the song Kickstart my Heart by Motley Crue. This song, followed by a great guitar riff and a lot of ‘woahs’ and ‘yeahs’, perfectly depicts how I would act in getting to the jumping off the rocky cliff into the ravine below. As I leap off, arms flailing, I brace for immediate impact from the imminent water down below. This rock anthem gets me ecstatic to take a leap of faith, but also to reminisce in the moments that go along with it.

Even though, unlike most modern teenagers, my iPod is filled with classic music of The Eagles and Pink Floyd, I still sometimes find myself wandering into the controversial but powerful territory of rap music. Yes, okay. Go ahead and roll your eyes just like my dad when he states his opinion of “rap is crap,” when I rarely crank up the rhyming mastermind of Eminem and Drake. I then counter with a little smirk on my face by exclaiming, “If the music is too loud, then you’re too old!” But that’s just a matter of opinion.

Rap music, not matter how many people are against it, has a special place in my soul. Many people do not know that not all rap music involves constant swearing and violence that people are opposed to. These are songs that calm me down and allow me to think of events in my life that have made me the most happiest. Songs like Live Free by Mac Miller and Changes by 2Pac let me forget everything that has happened to me in the past. Now, I am able to look past the depression and anger I am feeling and get to the lighter side of life. These songs allow me to think of great moments in my life and be thankful for what I have. Music has a healing power that not a lot of art and literature can do. As a teenager in the 1960s would say, “Music heals the soul, mannnnn.”

Music is a powerful tool that allows people to express themselves in their own unique way. Listeners take these songs and interpret them with connections to their own life. This is how I try to live my life every single day. I listen to music every day in remembrance in many moments of my life. There are many things in life that are worth remembering each day and music connects these moments together. When I think of specific songs, I can picture specific moments in life. I am able to identify all of the good times in my life because of my taste in music. You can insult a man’s mother, but it is a sin to insult his taste in music.